A.N.: I made it! After a completely ridiculous couple of weeks, I have an update for HF at last. My apologies that it's taken so long.
I also want to say a huuuge thank you to everyone who has been following, favouriting, and reviewing. Honestly, I am continually humbled by how kind people's words are. Thank you so much for your encouragement!
A quick note before this chapter: Plot bunnies have a lot to say for some of the action here. Although I have the general shape of the story planned out, when it comes to the minor plots, things do change as I'm writing. This is exactly what happened this time. I originally planned (and wrote) a whole PoV section which I've had to move to the next chapter because the second and fourth sections of this chapter came along and more or less overwrote everything. When I mentioned the "midday storm", even I didn't plan for it to be this hectic. But it works, and I'm happy with it, so hopefully it's as fun to read as it was to write. And it will actually get things moving a little faster, so that's no bad thing either!
Monday, 11:40am
"She's asleep," Mimi said, walking into the living room and shuddering. "That was really creepy."
Daisuke nodded. "Yup," he said. "You did pretty much the same thing last night,"
He yelped as Miyako clipped him round the ear.
"What was that for?"
She rolled her eyes at him, apparently annoyed. "Would you think before talking for once?"
Daisuke shrugged. "Well it's true, isn't it?"
He didn't add that since it was Mimi he was talking to, he didn't think she'd mind. Miyako ought to know that anyway, and stop fussing so much. Ever since he'd got back from the Digital world, the others had done nothing but fuss and bother. What was the point? It was just wasting time that could be better used getting on with things.
If he was honest with himself, it didn't help that he was getting frustrated at having to wait before he could return there and get to work finding out what the problem was. Being called to Earth just so that he could personally tell his family he needed to go missing seemed…well, okay, it was the decent thing to do. But honestly, under the circumstances, Miyako and Ken could have picked a better time, or just done it themselves. Those distortions were apparently getting worse, and he'd still only got a pretty distant look at them, having been told not to get too close without backup.
And then he'd come back to the real world only to find that no one was even doing anything. They were all just waiting around for midday so they could see who would be left. He wasn't needed here. He was needed back in the Digital world, where he could do more than just stand by and watch as Hikari suddenly got so tired that she fell asleep practically standing up, and had to be carried into her room.
"So, here's a question," he said, frowning. "How come Hikari just fell asleep, and the rest of you didn't?"
"That…is actually a good point," Miyako said, planting herself back down at the laptop. She looked up at the others. "How are you two…I mean three doing?"
Mimi frowned. "Tired," she said glumly. "And I was fine a few minutes ago."
Beside her, Palmon reached up and patted Mimi on the hip. "Don't worry, I'll be more careful this time and protect you properly."
Jou sighed. "I can't say I feel particularly energetic right now either," he said, even more gloomy than Mimi had been. "We might not be asleep yet, but I don't think it'll be long."
Everyone turned to face Ken, who shook his head. "I'm fine," he said quickly. He pulled his chair back over to the table and sat down. "There's no reason to suppose I'll be affected, anyway. Everyone else has crossed over at night when they were naturally asleep."
Daisuke nodded. "He's got a point. So, what. We wait for Jou and Mimi to get back and then head back to the Digital world? Because if we're doing that, we should make the most of our chance and investigate those distortions properly."
Alwyn cleared his throat, and they turned to look at him. "A noble intention, but is it wise to make assumptions of that sort? Your companions have previously been in some distress upon their return. Might it be best to observe their emotional state prior to making decisions?"
Daisuke fully expected Mimi to make some sort of comment about that. She'd certainly been pretty snippy with everyone so far that morning. Instead, she just yawned.
"I think Alwyn has a point," Ken said. "It's best not to make hard and fast plans until we know more. Iori will be here after he finishes school, too, and we don't yet know what he will decide to do."
"Well, he'll want in, right?" Daisuke said. "I mean, he's one of us."
"That doesn't mean we should just make assumptions," Miyako said. She didn't even look up from the laptop. "I mean, for the time being, he could carry on going to school and help out afterwards, like we did before. Until Gennai works out a way to fix whatever's going on, all you can do is keep watch, right?"
"Urghh," Mimi said. "I feel a little…" She staggered, and almost collapsed onto the sofa.
Daisuke lurched forward and managed to catch her before she fell. He groaned. Mimi was a lot heavier than she looked. Alwyn flew over, and took one of her arms over his shoulder. Between them, they lowered her to the ground. When Palmon shook her shoulder and called her name, she didn't so much as twitch.
By the time Daisuke stood and looked, Jou was already unconscious on the sofa. Gomamon said nothing, but the look of worry on the little digimon's face made speech unnecessary.
"I've made a note of the time," Ken said. "We should lay Mimi down in Hikari's room, quickly. If she doesn't vanish, it would be too easy to bump into her here."
Mrs Yagami returned from the shops as they carried Mimi into the bedroom.
"I think I bought the whole shop's worth of batteries," she remarked. Looking around, she sighed, sadly. "They're asleep already?"
"I'm afraid so," Ken said, getting to his feet. "Here, let me help you with that."
Mrs Yagami smiled. "Thank you, but I can manage. I'll go sit with Hikari until…until it's time."
Daisuke passed the time until midday trying to find stuff to do. It was alright for Miyako and Ken - they were working on their translation thingy, and talking to Gennai about what was going on in the Digital world - which was where he ought to be. Not sat there in the Yagamis' living room, trying to think of what exactly was the right thing to say to a digimon about to follow his partner into a potential landslide. The closer midday got, the more subdued Gomamon seemed to be, watching Jou with a concern that seemed pretty out of character to Daisuke. He'd never really pegged Gomamon as the worrying sort, unlike Jou.
A couple of minutes before the hour, Alwyn made his way into Hikari's room. Tentomon hovered beside him holding Hikari's schoolbag, which they had dumped the batteries and a few charging leads into.
The two mothers both hugged Alwyn, asking him to pass on their love to Taichi and Takeru when he saw them. Daisuke shifted awkwardly. Why did parents always have to get so emotional over stuff? They could talk to everyone using the D-Terminals, couldn't they? He looked away, wondering what his family would do if he was trapped in another world. His parents had downplayed any Digital world stuff since finding out about it. They were proud of him, sure - they'd said as much to anyone who understood what had happened. But they weren't exactly the sentimental type, and they didn't really seem all that comfortable talking about digimon.
Midday. He didn't need a clock to know when it was - black clouds billowed out of nowhere to wrap around Hikari, Mimi, and Jou. He just had time to see Alwyn and Tentomon grab hold of Hikari's arm when Miyako shrieked in panic.
He turned and saw Ken fall out of his chair, one hand loosely pressed against his head. The faintest trace of shadowy clouds flickered around him as he landed heavily on the floor.
"Get back!" Daisuke cried, seeing Miyako about to reach out to him.
The shadows lasted a few short seconds before fading away. Ken groaned.
"What…what happened?" he said groggily.
Daisuke leant against the wall, feeling the surge of adrenaline start to fade. "I dunno for sure," he said. "But it looks like your number almost got called."
Monday, 12:13pm
The mountaintops looked beautiful by night, their snowy peaks almost glowing in the starlight. For a few minutes, Jou simply gaped, taken aback by the beauty of the place. It was one of the most peaceful and tranquil sights he'd ever seen.
"Hey, Jou," Gomamon said at last. "Isn't this the same mountain as before?"
Jou frowned, and looked carefully at their surroundings. There was only a thin sliver of moon, but the stars were more than bright enough to illuminate the whole valley.
"You're right," he said after a minute or two. "But…that landslide. There should be rocks and debris everywhere. It's as though it never happened!"
He turned full circle trying to look for any sign of the rocks that had fallen on them, then looked up at the sheer rock face beside him. The silhouette it cast against the stars looked eerily familiar.
"I don't like this at all," he said. "There's something wrong about this place. We should move."
"But which way?" Gomamon asked. "Up or down?"
Jou tapped his chin, thinking.
"Up," he said at last. "If there is another landslide, we won't be able to outrun it going down the mountainside. And if we climb the mountain, we might yet find a sign as to where the others are."
Gomamon smiled. "Just like old times!" he exclaimed. "This way!"
Jou stared at his partner for a moment, then laughed. "I suppose it is," he said. "Do you know, I'd almost forgotten that."
It wasn't too difficult to find a path up the rocky slope, although there were several patches where the footing was loose and unstable. Gomamon's size made the going a lot slower though, and Jou couldn't shift the feeling that they had to get to higher ground quickly. After a few minutes, he picked his partner up, and sat him on his shoulders.
"I need you to keep an eye out," he explained. "You can see more from up there."
"Well of course I can," Gomamon replied. "You'd be really lost without me, you know."
Jou smiled, despite himself. True, they were stranded in a mysterious and probably hostile world, on a mountain that may or may not be about to collapse on top of them at any moment, but it was nice to just spend time with Gomamon again. When all this was over - and he sorely hoped that it would be soon - he'd have to make more of an effort to fit in some time around his studies. Or even to take a leaf out of Mimi's book and study in the digital world, if that was possible.
The walls grew closer on either side of them as they neared the top of the mountain, with rocky crevices here and there that looked as though they might be caves. They stopped briefly by one of the smaller ones after Gomamon thought he saw a light, but on closer inspection they couldn't see signs of anything at all. It was a small black opening and nothing more, barely even large enough for Jou to squeeze through - not that he planned to try. There was no way he intended to venture into a dark cave without some kind of light source.
"Perhaps there was a smooth surface inside," he said eventually. "It must have been reflecting the starlight somehow."
Gomamon said nothing, but turned to stare at the opening as they moved on.
"Hey, Jou," he remarked after they had been climbing for a short while longer. There was a note in Gomamon's voice which belied his would-be complacency.
Jou halted, clinging on to a boulder he was trying to get past. "What is it? Can you see something?"
"Well, you know how the sky here is pretty bright, even in between the stars?"
"Mhmm?"
"There's a black patch right above us, and it's getting bigger."
Jou swore, and scrambled over the boulder, uncomfortably aware of the target that he and Gomamon made against the rock. Why had he put Gomamon on his shoulders? His partner's body was white; they probably stood out like a sore thumb amongst all this grey and brown.
There was a tiny hollow at the base of the rock they had scaled; a gap formed by the curve of the boulder where it had come to rest on the mountainside. Thinking fast, Jou slid his partner off his back and into the space, crouching down beside it. He looked up, trying to see the dark patch in the sky. There was nothing but the stars, a glittering veil stretched over the sky without interruption. No clouds, either. Whatever it was Gomamon had seen, it was alive. His thoughts shifted uncomfortably to the whatever-it-was that had attacked Takeru.
"Jou, what are you doing?" Gomamon asked.
He shook his head, patting himself down, and grimaced. "Damn it. I don't have my digivice, he muttered. "Which means that whatever that thing is, we're defenceless. And you stand out, so you have to hide, okay? Maybe it'll pass over without seeing us."
They were fortunate, really. He'd come straight from cram school before, so he still had his school jacket on. The dark material would help camouflage him. All he had to do was keep his head down and they'd both be safe, right?
A deafening, high-pitched shriek split the night air. Why had he thought that? Why? When did anything ever work out the way he hoped? He'd probably doomed them both with his optimism. He huddled closer against the rock, trying to hold his blazer in such a way that it obscured his shirt from whatever creature it was that flew above them.
The next shriek was closer, and accompanied the growing sound of flapping wings. Jou turned instinctively, and gaped as he saw a giant bat circling overhead, each wing easily longer than he was tall. It shrieked again and he saw the starlight glinting off of long, sharp teeth.
The wings pulled inward and the creature plummeted towards them, mouth wide. It shrieked as it fell, and Jou felt his stomach churn. If it got him, Gomamon would be exposed and helpless. What could his partner do against something like this? In the heat of the moment, there was only one thing he could think to do.
"Stay there!" he yelled, and made a break for the cave they had passed. If he could lure the creature away, it wouldn't see Gomamon in his hiding place, and it was too large to fit through the opening.
"Jou!" Gomamon cried from somewhere behind him. He didn't dare look back to make sure his partner had stayed put.
The rocks were treacherous underfoot, but he didn't care. He just had to get a little way further…
Something beneath him shifted and he tripped, screaming as he felt his ankle twist beneath him with a sickening crunch. He landed heavily on the rocky mountain slope and rolled over to see the bat swooping towards him with a wide mouth full of fangs. It landed a short way in front and leapt forward, reaching out with the clawed hands on the tip of its wings.
Jou just had time to acknowledge the sick feeling in his chest that said he'd made a terrible mistake - and then the world cut out.
Monday, 12:13pm
The first thing which surprised Mimi when she found herself in the city again was that there were street lights, and they actually worked. What kind of place was this? There was no one around to need the lights, and surely if the city was abandoned, the power ought to have stopped working too. It was eerie.
The second thing which surprised Mimi was that she and Palmon had reappeared in the same spot they'd started in last time, instead of the place they'd disappeared from.
"This is really creepy," she said quietly. Something about the silent, empty streets was making her feel nervous. "Takeru got hurt because he reappeared in mid-air, so why are we back here?"
Palmon looked around, keeping close. "I don't know, Mimi. But do you have your digivice with you? Something about this place feels dangerous."
It was nowhere in sight. What was it that Koushiro had messaged them to say? That it might be because she wasn't really here? If her body was still in the real world covered in shadows, it couldn't be standing in the city. Well, that made sense, although everything felt real enough. It was also the only explanation anyone could think of for how Palmon had been shot and yet returned to the real world without any visible injuries.
Of course, the last thing she remembered of being in the real world was standing in the living room, so the fact that she didn't have her digivice didn't necessarily mean that she wasn't real and was therefore safe. Had she actually been carrying it when she'd fallen asleep? And - more to the point - did she really want to place all her trust in a theory which she didn't especially understand, when her and Palmon's lives could be at stake?
She sighed. "Well, you're stuck as you are, Palmon, but I don't know if it means we're safe or not. I don't think I want to take any chances, either way. Koushiro's smart enough, but his theories have been wrong before."
"What do we do now?" Palmon asked. "Should we look around?"
It was eerily quiet. There was hardly a breath of wind, and the streets managed to look even more barren and lifeless under the artificial lights than they had during the strange world's day.
Mimi swallowed heavily. The silence was getting to her, making her feel exposed and vulnerable. What if they were caught, standing out in the middle of the street? Palmon couldn't evolve, which sorely hampered their ability to defend themselves.
"I don't feel safe out here," she said at last. "If something comes along, we'll be spotted really easily. We should try and find somewhere a little less in the open."
Palmon nodded. "One of the houses?"
"Umm…"
She frowned, looking at the buildings on either side of the street. They didn't look at all welcoming, and although the brightly lit streets were unnerving her, she wasn't sure she wanted to wander around one of them in the dark, either.
"Maybe we should see if we can find a light or something first," she said. "I wish I had my bag with me - I made sure to pack a torch."
They walked softly, trying to disturb the silence as little as possible. Now and then they would halt, sure that they'd heard something move, but there was never any sign, and the faint noises they did make echoed around the empty streets so that it was hard to tell where a sound was coming from anyway.
"I don't like this," Mimi whispered after a few minutes. They had reached a junction with a larger street, and had a choice of turning left towards a large, partly collapsed building which looked a little like a church, or right along a section of road where one or two of the lights had failed.
"Maybe we should turn back?" Palmon said.
Mimi folded her arms. "But what does that do?" she asked. "We're stuck here no matter which way we go, and I'd rather explore different places and find out more than just sit somewhere and not know what's going on or how we get home." She strode out into the middle of the junction, and looked from left to right along the street.
"We'll go right," she said at last, turning her back on the ruined church. "That way's a dead end, so there's no point taking a look. And, see? If we go along this way, I think I can see some buildings with lights on further down the road. It's not far. We can do this, right Palmon?"
She clenched her hands into fists, and smiled at her partner. As long as she kept motivated, they had to be able to find a way back home eventually, right?
Despite her bold words, they kept close to the wall along one side of the street as they approached the darker stretch. With the light from the lamps on either end, and the stars above, it wasn't truly dark. Still, Mimi couldn't help but feel a little nervous. What if those soldier-type people came back?
She bit her lip and pressed on, Palmon close behind her. Just a little further along and then..
"Hey, Mimi," Palmon whispered. "I can see a light in that building!"
Mimi turned to see where her partner was pointing. Sure enough, inside one of the houses they were passing, something was lit up.
"Do you think someone lives here still?" she asked, looking around. There was a patch of dry, dead grass nearby. "It doesn't seem like anyone could live here."
"I don't know," Palmon said. "What should we do, Mimi?"
They sat in silence for a moment. Nothing moved anywhere. There wasn't even a breeze to rustle the scattered patches of grass and plantlife, or jostle some of the debris abandoned here and there.
"I say we take a look," Mimi said. "This place is creepy, and I hate being outside like this. I feel like something could be sneaking up on us, and if those soldiers come back they might shoot at us again. Lets get indoors where it's safer."
Palmon nodded, and followed as Mimi made her way across the street to the house with the light inside. It held steady, like the electric lights everywhere else. Could there be someone still hanging on in this city? There had to be a reason those soldiers were wandering around, after all. Visions filled her head of a secret resistance, hiding out in the empty buildings to escape the patrols, just like in action films.
The front door was ajar. She pushed it lightly, wincing as it swung open with a gentle creeeaak. Inside, the hallway was dark, but the layout seemed the same as the house they'd explored last time. If that was the case, the light was coming from the kitchen.
Doorways to the rooms on either side of the hall loomed like voids in front of them. The doors were wide open. Mimi took a deep breath and crept along the darkened hallway to the closest of them and peered inside.
The shutters which every house seemed to possess instead of glass were missing, allowing starlight to illuminate the room. It seemed to be a sitting room of some sort, with sofas and side tables. Bookshelves lined one wall, although most of the books were on the floor, along with a thick layer of dust and debris. It looked as though no one had been inside in years.
But there has to be a reason for the light, Mimi thought. And if they are hiding, of course they couldn't stay at the front of the house. Those soldiers would see them.
Palmon had tiptoed over to the other doorway, and Mimi went to see what her partner had found. To judge by the furniture, it was a study, which looked equally untouched. Mimi shook her head when Palmon mimed going into the room, and pointed to the light instead.
There was one more opening before the room she guessed to be the kitchen. At the end of the hallway was a flight of stairs going up, and a doorway down to what had to be a cellar. She'd refused to go down into the cellar of the house they'd been in last time, and that had been during this world's day. There was no way she wanted to risk getting stuck down there at night.
She and Palmon crouched on the side of the door with hinges before reaching out to push it further open. After all, who knew what could be on the far side? She'd been caught out once already thanks to not taking enough care, and there was no way she planned to make the same mistake twice.
The light from inside the room spilled out into the hallway, but there was no sound of movement from the room itself. She waited a full minute before looking at Palmon and nodding. They stood, and walked through the open doorway, then halted abruptly.
The room had been ransacked. No cupboard seemed left untouched, and the furniture had been overturned and partly smashed on the floor. Pots and pans lay scattered amid the wreckage, and broken glass littered the floor from smashed bottles and jars. Worst of all, everything was coated in a thick enough layer of dust that she knew it had lain undisturbed in this state for a long, long time.
Whatever it was that she had been expecting, it wasn't this. As Palmon took a step into the room and picked up a copper pot, Mimi leant against the wall and sighed.
"What now?" Palmon asked, turning back to face her.
"I don't know," she said. "I was so sure that someone had to be here…"
Scrunch.
The sound came from the hallway. Mimi threw herself away from the wall and backed into the room, crouching down and grabbing the nearest hard object - another copper pan, slightly smaller than the one Palmon had picked up.
She wielded it in front of her as a weapon as they heard a curious rattling sound, like dry rice pouring into a bowl. Her heart felt as though it was beating in her mouth.
Something growled softly, and the rattling grew louder.
"Palmon, RUN!" Mimi cried.
She grabbed her partner's hand and bolted towards the utility part of the house. Turning the corner, she shrieked as she almost ran into a large, black creature, and brought her makeshift weapon down hard across its head. It yelped, much like a dog, and backed up enough for her and Palmon to dash past it into the garden.
Unlike the previous house, this garden had stone walls, with a long-dead creeper growing up and over them. There was no obvious way out; from the lack of streetlights, Mimi guessed it backed onto other gardens instead of the road.
"What are those things?" she cried, as Palmon took up a guard position between her and the door.
Palmon shook her head and held out her arms. She lashed the first creature to emerge with her poison ivy attack. It darted back into the house with a rattling of spines.
"Whatever they are, they sure aren't friendly," she cried.
A sound above made them both look up. Luminescent eyes glinted at the upstairs windows.
"Oh no," Mimi said, her voice little more than a despairing murmur.
As the first one leapt down, she readied her saucepan, trying not to let her fear show. There was no way she planned on letting her partner face those things alone.
Monday, 12:42pm
Jou's terrified yell almost made Ken jump out of his skin. He whirled around to stare at the sofa, noting that Daisuke was already on his feet along with Mrs Takaishi. Jou and Gomamon had faded into near-nothingness a few minutes before - no one was expecting them to return so soon after that.
The black clouds that accompanied his return had barely disappeared before everyone knew something was wrong. Jou had materialised awkwardly on the sofa, and was looking around, clearly terrified.
"Gomamon," he murmured. "Where's Gomamon? Is he okay?"
Daisuke's face had turned grey. Ken ran over and immediately saw the reasons why.
Two things struck him. The first was that Jou's ankle was contorted at a very unnatural angle, and the second was that the little digimon was nowhere in sight.
"Jou, what happened?" Daisuke asked.
Jou shook his head, and tried to sit up, crying out with pain as his foot brushed the floor. He looked down at it, apparently surprised, then turned his attention to the rest of the room.
"Where's Gomamon?" he asked again. "He's here, isn't he? He has to be!"
Ken darted around the sofa to sit beside the older boy. "It's okay," he said. "We'll find him, I promise." He looked down at Jou's ankle and winced.
Jou stared at him, an expression of terror plastered all over his face. "No, you don't understand," he said, trying to stand up. He fell back with a yelp. "We were attacked… if he's still there…"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Miyako said, walking over. "I'm sure there's a solution to this somewhere, okay?"
Jou shook his head. He was breathing rapidly, and hardly seemed aware of where he was. "I have to go back," he said. "I have to help him - he's all on his own, and that thing will find him!"
Daisuke shook his head. "But that's not how it works, right? You can't go back 'til midnight."
Jou put his head in his hands, muttering something unintelligible to himself. Ken reached out and placed a hand on the older boy's shoulder.
"I'm…I'm sure Gomamon knows how to stay safe," he said, feeling awkward.
Jou shook his head. "It…it'll hear him," he moaned. "I shouldn't have left him…"
"Ken, look out!" Miyako shrieked. Before he could look around to ask what she meant, the world turned grey at the edges. Something landed heavily on his back just his vision cut out altogether, and he had the strangest sensation of being pulled.
A wave of fear and dread rose up to swamp him, and he passed out.